Town & Holiday Blog

Sammy Amalu

In the 1960’s, a con man who was descended from Hawaiian Royalty (King William Lunalilo) became disgruntled with the disenfranchisement of Hawaiians and decided to do something about it.  Amazingly, one of the travel industry’s giants became a willing participant.

Sammy Amalu, in 1962, almost put together a deal to buy the Sheraton-Waikiki Hotel and other prime Hawaii properties for more than $75 million.  Sheraton bought into the con and the deal got heavy press coverage.  Amalu – his true identity kept secret – had real estate agents and lawyers salivating for their cut of the deal.  He actually wrote and proffered the checks.  But he didn’t have any money at the time; was living modestly in a small Waikiki hotel.  So he went to jail.

While imprisoned, Amalu began writing letters to his former high school classmate, Thurston Twigg-Smith, who then was publisher of the Honolulu Advertiser, Hawaii’s largest daily paper.  The publisher found the letters to be amusing as well as well-written and Amalu began writing regular columns for the Advertiser while he was in prison, and he continued to write them after his release.

The columns ran for almost 20 years.

Amalu died in 1986 at the age of 68.

Ron Rewald
In a story bizarre enough to plot a Grisham thriller, Ronald Rewald, who had been a salesman for a Milwaukee sporting goods store, arrived in Honolulu in the early 1980s to head an investment company he called Bishop, Baldwin, Rewald, Dillingham and Wong.  Wong, a real estate agent, was Rewald’s actual partner.  The other three names were not actually people; but were among the most respected names in Hawaii’s business history.  (In New York, the company might have been called Rockefeller, Harriman, Rewald, Roosevelt & Wong.)  Incredibly, no one questioned their authenticity.  Offering “guaranteed” growth potential, BBRD&W accepted investment funds from many of Hawaii’s leading business people and others with high private incomes.  Can you say “Ponzi”?  Rewald began to spend lavishly, purchasing a polo club and its grounds, a couple of ranches, a sting of polo ponies, an exotic car dealership and an elaborate oceanfront estate in East Honolulu.

Rewald was actually an operative of a large and secret CIA operation based in Honolulu.  He was encouraged to keep a high profile and mingle with local movers and shakers.  The operation allegedly had taken over from the infamous CIA operation known as Nugan Hand Bank, which was staffed with several CIA officials and had offices throughout the world — primarily in the Far East.  It included drug money laundering, helping to hide Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos’ assets, and setting up and funding secret bank accounts for some very well known U.S. political figures.

When his cover was blown, he attempted suicide in Waikiki and the story was broken by a Honolulu television reporter.  The CIA and Justice Department filed charges against him.  A federal judge blocked him from having CIA personnel appear as witnesses, and barred him from introducing hundreds of documents showing he was, indeed, a CIA agent.  Rewald was sentenced to 81 years for allegedly making off with large sums of money.  This apparently was the money that the CIA moved after his cover was blown.  Rewald was released on parole from the Federal Correctional Institution Terminal Island facility in California.  He was not to be eligible for parole until 2015, but a back injury he suffered in prison may have been a factor in his early release.  He’s eligible to receive $150 per month because of the injury, which confines him to a wheelchair.

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I had brief encounters with Sammy Amalo and a more involved relationship with Ron Rewald.

We’ve had no contact with Ron since.  Karen remains in loose touch with Jimmy, who married and works as a security guard in Southern California.

Posted by: Jim Winpenny

Source: admin

We blogged a few weeks ago about a  Indianapolis-based Republic Airways was planning to form a partnership with Kailua-Kona-based Mokulele Airlines in order to provide more passenger seats for Hawaii’s interisland travelers and to create competition for Hawaiian Airlines in the market.

Well, they’ve done it, spurring hopes for lower fares and more options.  Starting November 19th, Mokulele will begin flying 14 flights a day between Honolulu and Lihue, Kauai, and between Honolulu and Kailua, Kona, using 70-seat Embraer E170 jets operated by Republic.  Service to Maui and Hilo is to start in January.

Republic Airways also will provide $150 million in financing, which will include a line of credit and spare engine parts for the new service.

It’s expected that some 200 of the employees who were laid off when Aloha Airlines folded will now be hired by Mokulele.

If you’re planning a trip to Hawaii, this could be good news for you, too.  Maybe prices will be more favorable for interisland travel, and we now have more options for booking convenient travel arrangements for you.

Source: admin

Two of the most prominent figures in Hawaii’s history were related — Bernice Pauahi Paki Bishop was the great-granddaughter of Kamehameha I, the warrior chief who united all the islands of Hawaii under his rule in 1810, thereby creating the Hawaiian monarchy.

Kamehameha the Great of the Big Island made his mark by conquering each of the other major islands’ leadership – with more than a little help from British and American traders who sold him guns and ammunition and trained his men in their use.

Princess Pauahi Paki was born in 1831 and educated by American Protestant missionaries.  She met and married a young American named Charles Reed Bishop, whose surname is found throughout the islands on roads, schools, the famous museum, and the facades of leading businesses and institutions.  Widely respected in his own time, he was a widely successful businessman who through banking, real estate, and other investments, became one of the wealthiest men in the kingdom.  Because the name is so prevalent in the islands, many assume it relates somehow to the missionaries.  Nope.

At the time of Pauahi’s birth, Hawaii’s native population was about 124,000.  When she wrote her will in 1883, only 44,000 Hawaiians remained.

Pauahi witnessed – and deplored — the steady physical and spiritual demise of Native Hawaiians.  Foreign influences that had been introduced with Captain James Cook’s arrival in Hawaii in 1778 had weakened the traditional order of Hawaiian life and culture.  Diseases to which Hawaiians had no immunity caused tens of thousands of natives to die in epidemics.

Pauahi Bishop was certain that a lack of education helped bring that decrease about.  She hoped there would come a turning point – a time when, through enlightenment, the adoption of regular habits and Christian ways of living, the natives would not only hold their own in numbers, but would increase again like the people of other races.  Remember, she not only was married to enormous wealth, she also was the heir to most of the lands of high-ranking Kamehameha chiefs.  She said she “felt responsible and accountable” for having so much.

She was determined to establish an institution bearing the name Kamehameha, and a hospital and schools for boys and girls. The schools’ enrollment would not be restricted to boys and girls of pure or part aboriginal blood, but that class “should have preference.”  In her will, she left her estate, about nine percent of the total acreage of the Hawaiian kingdom, to found the Kamehameha Schools.

After Pauahi’s death, Charles Bishop, as president of the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Estate’s Board of Trustees, ensured that his wife’s wish was fulfilled.  He provided his own funds for the construction of facilities and added some of his own properties to her estate.  Until his death in 1915, he continued to guide her trustees in directions that reinforced her vision of a perpetual educational institution that would assist Native Hawaiians to become “good and industrious men and women.”

Pauahi’s original endowment has grown to become one of the most important trusts for Hawaiian people.  Today, her estate encompasses nearly 365,800 acres of land in Hawaii which, combined with other assets, are valued at more than $6 billion. The revenue generated by these assets fund Kamehameha Schools’ educational programs and services for thousands of students statewide.  Her endowment supports the largest independent pre-kindergarten through grade 12 school in the United States.

It’s ironic that those two relatives – Kamehameha and Pauahi — made their marks in entirely different ways.  One gained stature and position through the spilled blood of his countrymen; the other earned adoration through her benevolence and compassion.

Hawaii’s history is complex and fascinating in spite of the simplicity of her culture.  If you’d like to delve a little, The Bishop Museum on Oahu is the ideal place to start.  Plan on spending at least a day.

Posted by Jim Winpenny

Source: admin

Two of the most prominent figures in Hawaii’s history were related — Bernice Pauahi Paki Bishop was the great-granddaughter of Kamehameha I, the warrior chief who united all the islands of Hawaii under his rule in 1810, thereby creating the Hawaiian monarchy.

Kamehameha the Great made his mark by conquering each of the other major islands’ leadership – with more than a little help from British and American traders who sold him guns and ammunition and trained his men in their use.

Princess Pauahi Paki was born in 1831 and educated by American Protestant missionaries.  She met and married a young American named Charles Reed Bishop, whose surname is found throughout the islands on roads, schools, the famous museum, and the facades of leading businesses and institutions.  Widely respected in his own time, he was a widely successful businessman who through banking, real estate, and other investments, became one of the wealthiest men in the kingdom.  Because the name is so prevalent in the islands, many assume it relates somehow to the missionaries.  Nope.

At the time of Pauahi’s birth, Hawaii’s native population was about 124,000.  When she wrote her will in 1883, only 44,000 Hawaiians remained.

Pauahi witnessed – and deplored — the steady physical and spiritual demise of Native Hawaiians.  Foreign influences that had been introduced with Captain James Cook’s arrival in Hawaii in 1778 had weakened the traditional order of Hawaiian life and culture.  Diseases to which Hawaiians had no immunity caused tens of thousands of natives to die in epidemics.

Pauahi Bishop was certain that a lack of education helped bring that decrease about.  She hoped there would come a turning point – a time when, through enlightenment, the adoption of regular habits and Christian ways of living, the natives would not only hold their own in numbers, but would increase again like the people of other races.  Remember, she not only was married to enormous wealth, she also was the heir to most of the lands of high-ranking Kamehameha chiefs.  She said she “felt responsible and accountable” for having so much.

She was determined to establish an institution bearing the name Kamehameha, and a hospital and schools for boys and girls.  The schools’ enrollment would not be restricted to boys and girls of pure or part aboriginal blood, but that class “should have preference.”  In her will, she left her estate, about nine percent of the total acreage of the Hawaiian kingdom, to found the Kamehameha Schools.

After Pauahi’s death, Charles Bishop, as president of the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Estate’s Board of Trustees, ensured that his wife’s wish was fulfilled.  He provided his own funds for the construction of facilities and added some of his own properties to her estate.  Until his death in 1915, he continued to guide her trustees in directions that reinforced her vision of a perpetual educational institution that would assist Native Hawaiians to become “good and industrious men and women.”

Pauahi’s original endowment has grown to become one of the most important trusts for Hawaiian people.  Today, her estate encompasses nearly 365,800 acres of land in Hawaii which, combined with other assets, are valued at more than $6 billion.  The revenue generated by these assets fund Kamehameha Schools’ educational programs and services for thousands of students statewide.  Her endowment supports the largest independent pre-kindergarten through grade 12 school in the United States.

It’s ironic that those two relatives – Kamehameha and Pauahi — made their marks in entirely different ways.  One gained stature and position through the spilled blood of his countrymen; the other earned adoration through her benevolence and compassion.

Hawaii’s history is complex and fascinating in spite of the simplicity of her culture.  If you’d like to delve a little, The Bishop Museum on Oahu is the ideal place to start.  Plan on spending at least a day.

Source: admin

Winter’s approaching.  That’s significant in Hawaii, when the season brings the big waves and attracts the big surfers from all over the world.  They arrive in early November in anticipation of competing for one of the most coveted awards in international surfing – the Vans Triple Crown.  The event started its six-week run on November 12th and run through December 20.  This year’s prize purse will be the largest in the Series’ history: $815,000.

More than 260 of the world’s best competitive surfers — men and women — will seek six titles as well as the series crown.  The events all will take place at three venues on Oahu’s North Shore: Haleiwa, Sunset Beach and the Banzai Pipeline.
Each event will have a 12-day window in which it must be completed.

You may have considered surfing to be a very personal activity, surfer against nature, but the Vans Triple Crown is an enormously popular spectator sport and crowds will gather to see the best in the world compete on huge, awesome waves in a gorgeous setting.  You might consider being there yourself.

Posted by Jim Winpenny
 

Source: admin

Unless you’re into quilting as an avocation, it’s likely that quilts aren’t a large part of your consciousness.  Here in the islands, a Hawaiian quilt is considered a treasure, whether you’ve received one as a gift, bought one or made one yourself.

Long before the first Westerners reached the islands, the Hawaiian people were making a fabric called "kapa" from the inner bark of the paper mulberry tree.  Kapa was pounded into layers and sewn with bone needles and natural fiber threads.  The yield was clothing, bedding and canoe sails.  The resulting fabric usually was dyed and decorated with elaborate patterns.

When the missionaries brought woven fabrics and piecework quilts to Hawaii, the Hawaiians quickly adopted their sewing techniques and materials – but not their methods.

Rather than cut fabrics into bits and then resew them, the Hawaiians’ designs were cut from solid pieces of cloth and appliquéd to a fabric background forming a decorative top.  Batting of wool, cotton, or natural fibers was placed between this top and an undecorated backing. The three layers were then stitched together.

It’s presumed that the first Hawaiian quilt designs were inspired by leaf patterns falling on fabric laid out to dry and other designs found in nature.  The quilts weren’t sold; they were gifts of love.

During the latter years of the monarchy and particularly after Queen Lili’uokalani was deposed in 1893, quilt patterns incorporating themes of royalty, "Ali`i", and of the royal palaces became symbols of Hawaiian identity.  Today it’s considered a matter of courtesy for non-Hawaiians to request permission from members of the Hawaiian community before using those particular patterns.

Quilting has gained a respected place in the resurgence of traditional Hawaiian arts and crafts.  Now quilters are passing on their knowledge of the past and creating new designs.

Hawaii’s visitors usually come across Hawaiian quilts – as they browse shops, see them in hotel lobbies and some rooms, or encounter them in private homes.  They are easy to covet, but are bulky when it comes to getting them back home.  Several companies will ship your choices to you. For your guidance, here’s what you can expect to pay for quilts of various sizes for various uses:

       Bedspread:                      $ 650
       Large Wall Hanging:      $ 160
       Small Wall Hanging:      $   30
       Baby Quilt:                      $   65
       Table Runner:                $   50

And it’s easy to take quilt making lessons while you’re here.

If you’d like to follow up your interest in the quilts, let us know.  Pick an agent from our Web site home page (hawaii-aloha.com), or call 1-800-5262.  We’ll hook you up with the best sources.

Posted by Jim Winpenny

Source: admin

Unless you’re into quilting as an avocation, it’s likely that quilts aren’t a large part of your consciousness.  Here in the islands, a Hawaiian quilt is considered a treasure, whether you’ve received one as a gift, bought one or made one yourself.

Long before the first westerners reached the islands, the Hawaiian people were making a fabric called "kapa" from the inner bark of the paper mulberry tree.  Kapa was pounded into layers and sewn with bone needles and natural fiber threads.  The result clothing, bedding and canoe sails.  The resulting fabric usually was dyed and decorated with elaborate patterns.

When the missionaries brought woven fabrics and piecework quilts to Hawaii, the Hawaiians quickly adopted their sewing techniques and materials – but not their methods.

Rather than cut fabrics into bits and then resew them, the Hawaiians’ designs were cut from solid pieces of cloth and appliquéd to a fabric background forming a decorative top.  Batting of wool, cotton, or natural fibers was placed between this top and an undecorated backing. The three layers were then stitched together.

It’s presumed that the first Hawaiian quilt designs were inspired by leaf patterns falling on fabric laid out to dry and other designs found in nature.  The quilts weren’t sold; they were gifts of love.

During the latter years of the monarchy and particularly after Queen Lili’uokalani was deposed in 1893, quilt patterns incorporating themes of royalty, "Ali`i", and of the royal palaces became symbols of Hawaiian identity.  Today it’s considered a matter of courtesy for non-Hawaiians to request permission from members of the Hawaiian community before using those particular patterns.

Quilting has gained a respected place in the resurgence of traditional Hawaiian arts and crafts.  Now quilters are passing on their knowledge of the past and creating new designs.

Hawaii’s visitors usually come across Hawaiian quilts – as they browse shops, see them in hotel lobbies and some rooms, or encounter them in private homes.  They are easy to covet, but are bulky when it comes to getting them back home.  Several companies will ship your choices to you. For your guidance, here’s what you can expect to pay for quilts of various sizes for various uses:

       Bedspread:                      $ 650
       Large Wall Hanging:     $ 160
       Small Wall Hanging:     $   30
       Baby Quilt:                     $   65
       Table Runner:           $   50

And it’s easy to take quilt making lessons while you’re here.

If you’d like to follow up your interest in the quilts, let us know.  Pick an agent from our Web site home page (hawaii-aloha.com), or call 1-800-5262.  We’ll hook you up with the best sources.

Source: admin

It’s probably too late for you to see the show in Honolulu, but Hawaii residents have been blown away by the Cirque du Soleil show “Saltimbanco,” which has been in town since last month.  Its final performance here is November 16th, at the Neil S. Blaisdell Arena.

Saltimbanco, which literally means "to jump on a bench" in Italian, looks into the universal urban experience — the people who live in cities, their idiosyncrasies and likenesses, their families and groups, the hustle and bustle of the street and the towering heights of its skyscrapers.  The show takes its spectators on a spectacularly acrobatic journey into the heart of a metropolis.  It’s a fanciful, dreamlike world, an imaginary city where diversity is a cause for hope.

It’s full of nonstop tools and techniques: Adagio (based on acrosport), Chinese poles, juggling, boleadoras (percussion instruments), Russian swing, hand-to-hand, bungees and trapeze.  All those form the language the characters of Saltimbanco use to assert their identities, and the audience journeys with them at the heart of an imaginary city brimming with optimism.

The characters include the Baron, Eddy and the Sleeper, who interact with one another under the eye of the Ringmaster, who guides the audience on this whirlwind journey into the heart of the city.  The orchestra’s music keeps things moving along at an almost frantic pace.

Everybody here loved the show.  The kids, in particular, have been spellbound with even the little ones sitting quietly in amazement throughout.

If you are in Honolulu now, plenty of seats remain for the final performances.  You can get tickets at the Blaisdell box office or on line at www.ticketmaster.com

If you live in or near one of the following areas, make note of when Saltimbanco will be in town:

Prescott Valley, AZ
Tim’s Toyota Center, Nov. 20-23

Tucson, AZ
Tucson Arena, Nov. 26-30

Oklahoma City, OK
Ford Center, Dec. 3-7

Tulsa, OK
BOK Center, Dec. 10-14

Hidalgo, TX
Dodge Arena, Dec. 17-2

Posted by Jim Winpenny

Source: admin

It’s probably too late for you to see the show in Honolulu, but Hawaii residents have been blown away by the Cirque du Soleil show “Saltimbanco,” which has been in town since last month.  Its final performance here is November 16th, at the Neil S. Blaisdell Arena.

Saltimbanco, which literally means "to jump on a bench" in Italian, looks into the universal urban experience — the people who live in cities, their idiosyncrasies and likenesses, their families and groups, the hustle and bustle of the street and the towering heights of its skyscrapers.  The show takes its spectators on a spectacularly acrobatic journey into the heart of a metropolis.  It’s a fanciful, dreamlike world, an imaginary city where diversity is a cause for hope.

It’s full of nonstop tools and techniques: Adagio (based on acrosport), Chinese poles, juggling, boleadoras (percussion instruments), Russian swing, hand-to-hand, bungees and trapeze.  All those form the language the characters of Saltimbanco use to assert their identities, and the audience journeys with them at the heart of an imaginary city brimming with optimism.

The characters include the Baron, Eddy and the Sleeper, who interact with one another under the eye of the Ringmaster, who guides the audience on this whirlwind journey into the heart of the city.  The orchestra’s music keeps things moving along at an almost frantic pace.

Everybody here loved the show.  The kids, in particular, have been spellbound with even the little ones sitting quietly in amazement throughout.

If you are in Honolulu now, plenty of seats remain for the final performances.  You can get tickets at the Blaisdell box office or on line at www.ticketmaster.com

If you live in or near one of the following areas, make note of when Saltimbanco will be in town:

Prescott Valley, AZ
Tim’s Toyota Center, Nov. 20-23

Tucson, AZ
Tucson Arena, Nov. 26-30

Oklahoma City, OK
Ford Center, Dec. 3-7

Tulsa, OK
BOK Center, Dec. 10-14

Hidalgo, TX
Dodge Arena, Dec. 17-2

Posted by Jim Winpenny

Source: admin

When Hawaii became a state in 1959, our residents were relieved, excited, optimistic … and a little sheepish.   We still were out here in the middle of the Pacific.  Sure enough, we had been recognized as a tourist destination, but so had Tahiti and Bali.  Most of our visitors referred to the mainland as “the states” as if we were pretenders.  We were, it seemed, just “sort of” a state, not a full-fledged one.

Half a century later, presidential candidate Barack Obama’s citizenship was questioned during the campaign.  After all, his father was Kenyan; Barack had been born way out in Hawaii and had attended schools in Jakarta until sixth grade when he returned to the islands.

In spite of ourselves, we Hawaii residents (Can’t call ourselves “Hawaiians” unless Hawaiian blood is pumped by our hearts) have felt a little like second-class Americans – proud of our islands and all they offer, but not quite fitting in with the contiguous states.

It would take something special for us to get over that hump.

The West Coast went through the same process.  The “West” was part of history – the “Wild” West of pioneers, settlers, ranchers and gunfighters – but beyond the mountains lay an area the rest of the country cared little about although big cities had been established and Easterners were moving west.

In 1957, Walter O’Malley took the Dodgers from Brooklyn to Los Angeles and Horace Stoneham took the Giants from Upper Manhattan to San Francisco.

Virtually overnight, the West Coast was in the Big Leagues.  The Bay Area and Southern California were recognized nationally as key players.

Half a century later, our islands began to creep into the hierarchy of national prominence.

No, we can’t be called “Big League.”  Our professional sports remain restricted to surfing, a few pro golf tournaments and competitions such as the Iron Man Triathlon and the International Billfish Tournament.

But there have been strides.

Hawaii’s music now is being recognized and honored.  Not so long ago, a laid-back Don Ho was our voice.  Today, Israel Kamakawiwo`ole, posthumously, is leading the way, and our music is being heard and respected around the world.

Big-ticket international performers know they can fill our venues, including Aloha Stadium, with ardent and passionate fans.

Hawaii has become an international film center, hosting The Hawaii International Film Festival (HIFF) and gaining worldwide respect as an ideal location for myriad projects.  Long-running TV series find ways to locate here for episodes – often several episodes.

The Sony Open, the UH football team’s undefeated 2007 season, the NFL Pro Bowl and the Honolulu Marathon all have attracted top-of-the-mind attention from sports fans around the world.

Our islands are among the more appealing travel destinations globally.  Our better hotels are authentically world-class.  Our beaches and natural wonders are many and splendid.

Our cuisine has become as distinctive as New Orleans’s.  Hawaii Regional Cuisine uses our islands’ fresh produce, meat and seafood to concoct wonderfully creative and toothsome dishes, imaginatively presented.  Not only has Hawaii Regional Cuisine taken Island dining to a lofty international level, it’s also established Hawaii-grown products as being among the finest in the world.

Our physicians, scientists and teachers are amazing the world with discoveries, new techniques and, yes, cures.  Honolulu has become an international business center and technology mecca.

New York would trade its skyline for our climate.  Philadelphia would jettison its slogan if it had our aloha.  San Francisco would give up its bridge for our neighbor islands.  How many Chicagoans have ever seen a rainbow?

But until very recently it seemed that we still were reflecting a sense of being “way out here in the Pacific.”  We hadn’t had confidence in who we are and where we stand.  We continued to think we were insignificant members of the USA community.

Boy, has that ever changed!

One of our guys is going to be President of the United States.  Another one, Sen. Daniel Inouye, will hold the nation’s purse strings as Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee.  One of our athletes, Shane Victorino, is a key member of the world-champion Philadelphia Phillies and acknowledged as the best center fielder in his league.  Another, Bryan Clay, is the Olympic decathlon champion.

We’re making news – positive news.  We sense the rest of the world has noticed us and has acknowledged our contributions to its progress.

Suddenly, we can consider ourselves players.  We can feel proud of who we are beyond the beaches.

We’re prouder than ever to show ourselves off to you.  Hurry on down.

Posted by Jim Winpenny

Source: admin